


We Could Be Happy

by alphagottadonk



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Dating without realizing it, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pack Dynamics, Pack Gathering, Scenting, sterek, werewolf things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 19:21:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1238038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphagottadonk/pseuds/alphagottadonk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Derek starts scenting Stiles who thinks its a pack thing until he sees Scott doing it to Kira.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Could Be Happy

“Derek,”

Stiles sighed, a corner of his lips tipping up against its will as he watched the way Derek’s lashes fluttered, obviously having trouble keeping his eyes open. Derek’s head snapped up at his name, looking at Stiles a bit sheepishly.

“I’m fine, okay? Go home. You’re-“

He started, Derek interrupting him to ask, “I’m annoying you? Overbearing?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, breaking out into a full grin as he corrected, “I was going to say you’re about to pass out from exhaustion. Seriously, I’m just going to school. You get some shut eye.”

He encouraged, scooping his backpack up and tossing it onto his shoulder before stepping over to Derek and giving him a stern look. “Sleep, Big Guy.” He demanded, poking his chest with a small breath of a laugh before turning to grab his keys.

Derek’s hand touched the back of his neck, just the lightest, most ethereal feeling touch and Stiles tipped his head back to look at him, asking, “What?” Derek shook his head and motioned for Stiles to get to school, which he did.

Scott greeted him at the parking lot, tossing Stiles a quick smile as they fell into stride together. Stiles reached out to clap him on the shoulder out of habit, squirming his other arm into the strap of his bag that was dangling, unused, before eying Scott.

“Derek still hanging around?”

Scott asked, and Stiles reflexively sniffed his jacket before nodding. “Yeah. Guy’s relentless. He’s been there every night for like, the last two weeks.” Stiles answered, pushing the doors open to the school and stepping inside. Derek had been a constant in his life for the last month or so, which came as an absolute surprise to him.

The last he’d known, Derek left Beacon Hills, and then suddenly he was back and doing everything he could to help save Stiles. It kept him up at night if he let it, wondering why when Derek had always been so quick to suggest killing the bad guy to save a lot of people. Scott told him it never was an option to Derek that they should kill Stiles, and that was strange. Derek was always nearby now, too, watching over Stiles like he was afraid something else was going to crawl back into him like the nogitsune had.

It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, even if he always expected being watched so close would, but Derek wasn’t taking care of himself in the process which Stiles didn’t like.

When he got home, he found Derek sprawled across his bed asleep. Stiles took a moment to admire the sight, smiling at how Derek’s lips were parted just enough for his front teeth to show, the way his hair was mussed into a disarray. He reluctantly walked over and plopped down onto the empty sliver of mattress beside Derek’s thigh, listening to the way he sucked in a sharp breath before pushing up on an elbow to squint at Stiles. He watched him blink the haze from his brain before sitting up, murmuring, “I only meant to sleep for a couple of hours.”

Stiles bypassed mentioning that Derek’s body was soaking up all the sleep it could get since he’d been neglecting himself so much lately, instead saying, “You know, when I said to get some sleep, I figured you would do it in your bed.”

Derek turned to look at Stiles, giving a quiet, “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t,” He tapered off with a yawn, Stiles having to focus on the floor to keep from watching the way Derek’s eyes crinkled up and his brows scrunched together.

"It’s no big deal. Just didn’t expect to come home and find the big bad wolf passed out in my bed is all." He assured, kicking his shoes off and stretching before shrugging out of his jacket. "You hungry? I’m thinking of ordering something from the café so I don’t have to cook today.” He said, going to mention something about grocery shopping but stopped when Derek’s palm landed on his forearm, skating up his skin until he got to Stiles’ shirt sleeve before pulling away and pushing to his feet, shrugging.

“Yeah, I guess.” He answered, not seeing the questioning look Stiles was trying to give him about the contact.

He kept noticing it, more and more after that. Anytime he was in just his t-shirt around Derek, he was touching his arm, or grazing a finger against the back of his neck. They were little things at first, that they could pretend wasn’t intentional or even noticed, but one night, just after he got out of the shower and found Derek waiting in the room like always, he stepped closer to Stiles, looking him in the eye for a moment before reaching out.

He bumped his knuckles to Stiles’ chin and dragged them down his jaw toward his neck before stepping back out of his space, leaving Stiles feeling flushed and unsure of what this whole thing was. Derek was obviously intending for Stiles to pay attention that time, so he did, going to ask what it was about but not having a chance before Derek was telling him to go to bed and slipping out the window.

—-

“Hey,”

Stiles ducked his head out the window, twisting to try and peek up toward the roof where he knew Derek was perched, keeping vigil. He came into sight after a few seconds, peering down over the edge of the roof and asking, “What?”

Stiles hesitated for a moment, pulling his blanket tighter around himself as a gust of wind danced its way around him. “I can’t sleep. Take me up there with you.”

Derek pushed himself off the roof, landing on the small dormer beneath Stiles’ window with a kind of grace Stiles was infinitely jealous of, before turning to look at Stiles. He was close enough Stiles could probably count the almost imperceptible spackle of freckles dabbled across his nose and cheekbones had there been any lights on, and he couldn’t help holding his breath.

“You, on the roof? That’s an accident waiting to happen, and with you, it’s pretty inevitable.”

Derek scoffed, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets and Stiles leaned forward, elbows perched on the windowsill and gave a sad attempt at a glare. “Rude. I’ll have you know I used to climb trees all the time, and only fell out of them like three times, ever.”

He didn’t give Derek a chance to further dissuade him, hoisting himself up onto the windowsill with some trouble and dangling his feet out of it after bunching the blanket up close around his body. “C’mon, I’m bored. I wanna see what you see every night.”

Derek rolled his eyes but turned around, stepping back until his hips were pressed against Stiles’ knees and instructed, “Get on. And you’re responsible for holding on because I need my hands to climb.”

Stiles gave a sarcastic, “Affirmative,” before leaning forward and curling his arms tight around Derek’s neck and his legs around his waist as firmly as he could manage before giving Derek the ‘ok’. Derek turned and got a foot on the windowsill and grabbed the edge of the roof, hopping up onto the roof with ease. He crawled on hands and feet over toward the section that resided over the attic, slightly more square than the rest of the roof and Stiles laughed against his neck at how odd they had to look.

He scooted off of Derek’s back and sat down on the roof before flopping onto his back, pillowing his head on his arms and staring up at the sky. It was just cool enough out to have a small bite to it and the stars were standing out brightly against the dark backdrop of the sky, making him wonder why he hadn’t thought to make Derek bring him up here sooner.

“Here, under the blanket.” He ordered, pulling at it until he could toss half over Derek. He listened to the way the shingles scraped against Derek’s clothes as he rolled onto his side, pulling the blanket onto himself more fully before Stiles gave a hum of approval.

“You know, I bought a star for Lydia once? She rolled her eyes and made some comment about how I had technically bought her a dead thing. I was so bummed.”

He said, trying to find constellations as he spoke. Derek made a small noise in his chest before responding, “A star is a good gift though. A lot of symbolism to it.”

Stiles fist pumped the air before crowing, “Thank you! I thought the same thing because dude, stars are so cool, but I don’t know. Guess it’s not for everyone.” He chuckled to himself imagining buying a star for Derek and naming it the Sourwolf star, and how it would technically be a little part of themselves engraved in the sky; that was so sappy, he had to grimace at himself.

He froze up when Derek leaned forward, pressing his nose against Stiles’ cheek and breathing in short, rapid little puffs of air that sent a shiver down Stiles’ spine. “Dude, are you sniffing me?” He asked, laughing in surprise as Derek nosed down his cheek toward the hinge of his jaw.

He let out a low, groaning sound near Stiles’ ear before saying, “No, that’s stupid.” And Stiles was about to point out that sticking your nose on someone and breathing was technically sniffing, but stopped when it hit him. “Oh. _Ohh_.” He said when he realized that this must be that scenting thing he’d heard the werewolves mention in passing. From what he knew, it was how packs marked each other to let other wolves know they were packmates.

So Derek was proclaiming him as a packmate. That was awesome. “How do you do it?” He questioned, tipping his head to the side and biting his lip when Derek’s stubble scrubbed against the sensitive skin on his neck.

“You just think of an emotion you want to convey about the person and try to project that so it’s in your breath when you do this,” Derek explained, puffing a deep breath against Stiles’ skin as an example and Stiles nodded, thinking how he wanted to make Derek smell before rolling over and shoving his nose against Derek’s temple and breathing in as close to the same way Derek had on him.

He made a trail down the side of his face and stopped at the underside of his jaw, dragging the tip of his nose along the strong line of it before pulling back with a grin, asking, “Like that?” Derek just stared at him, brows tipped up and mouth hanging open ever so slightly and Stiles had to flop back down keep from doing something stupid like kissing him.

It was a regular thing after that, and he started returning the touches or little breaths whenever Derek did them. He kind of really liked how it felt burying his face against Derek’s neck, knowing others would smell that they were pack.

Derek began doing it constantly, and more intensely than Stiles was sure what to do with. When Derek grabbed his arm and scrubbed his chin against the inside of Stiles’ wrist until it was a bright, sensitive red patch, he had to make Derek leave on a ‘food run’ that he knew would take at least an hour to get back from and jerked off thinking about how that would feel everywhere else on his body.

He cleaned himself up to the best of his abilities, certain Derek wouldn’t be able to smell it when he got back. He gave Stiles a strange look when he returned, before grabbing his hands and making Stiles rub his palms against his neck.

They were hanging out together with the pack at an empty field during spring break, celebrating together. Lydia made him help decorate the trees in a big ring of paper lanterns, and Derek even went out and bought candle torches that they stuck in the ground so that the place was lit up in a dim, homey feeling glow. Stiles wasn’t going to tell Derek, but he refused when the others tried to originally just plan to have a large bonefire; he figured a few candle torches was okay for Derek, but a bonfire might be a bit much.

They were all gathered around in lawn chairs, laughing and sharing stories when he caught sight of Scott and Kira sitting together. He had her hair brushed away from her neck and was running his nose up against the side of her face, she stroking the back of her hand against Scott’s jaw as he did and Stiles watched in awe for a few minutes before asking Scott if they could talk.

He led them far enough away from the others under the pretense of going to get something from the Jeep, tugging Scott along before he figured they were safe and turned to him. “Dude, I didn’t know Kira was pack now.” He said as soon as they stopped, watching the way Scott tipped his head and squinted at him like he didn’t get what Stiles was hinting at.

“I saw the way you two were scenting each other. So she’s pack then?”

He questioned, then frowned at the way Scott’s face started turning to a look of almost embarrassment. “Oh. That’s uh, not quite. Scenting isn’t a pack thing.” He answered, and now it was Stiles’ turn to be confused. “What do you mean it’s not a pack thing? What is it, then?”

Scott gave a shrug, saying, “You know, a relationship thing. Do you really not know that? I mean, you and Derek-“

Stiles cut him off with a wounded noise, scrubbing a hand through his hair and groaning. “Oh my God, dude. I thought it was just a pack thing. You thought Derek and I were together?”

Scott pursed his lips into a thin line before nodding, pointing out, “Well, I mean, you two did spend a lot of time together, alone. At night time. I just kind of figured it was a new thing and you weren’t officially calling it yet until you two were sure it would work. And you did come to school with the claim mark on your wrist.”

Stiles shoved his sleeves up to stare at the blotches of raw spots Derek had rubbed on his forearms just last night, before flicking his eyes back up to Scott. “Claim marks. As in ‘Property of Derek Hale’ marks?”

Scott gave a quick ‘yes’ before shoving Stiles back toward the others, saying, “I think you two really need to have a talk about this.” Stiles definitely agreed with that. He was under the impression Derek just wanted to make sure they were seen as packmates, but together?

He could feel his heart rate shooting up when the dim glow of lights came into view, stowing a deep breath before marching over to Derek and planting himself on his lap to press a rough, awkward kiss on him. Everyone went quiet, eyes focusing on them and he pulled back to glare at Derek. He was staring at Stiles in as much a ‘deer in the headlights’ expression as he’d ever seen.

“Hey, Jackass? Here’s a tip: Just asking someone out is a lot easier and less confusing than this scenting, marking thing. Or at least a simple ‘hey Stiles I’m rubbing my scent on you so everyone but you knows we’re a thing’.”

Someone snickered behind him, Isaac whispering, “Wait, what? They’re not a thing?”

Derek’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he quietly said, “I thought you knew.”

Stiles rolled his eyes dramatically before thumping Derek on the end of his nose, grumbling, “You’re an idiot sometimes, you know that?”

He scented Derek with intent later that night, setting his mind on trying to convey the message of _‘mine’_ before breathing out against Derek’s throat.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi at my [tumblr](http://www.larkspurleaf.tumblr.com)


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